


Hope

by SpecimenXodus



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Hongjoong and San get in a physical fight, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Injuries, M/M, Mute!San, Please mind these tags as there is a physical altercation in this, They talk about San's injuries, domestic abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26744890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpecimenXodus/pseuds/SpecimenXodus
Summary: Seonghwa meets an interesting individual in a local Starbucks.
Relationships: Choi San/Kim Hongjoong, Choi San/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49





	Hope

The first time that Seonghwa saw San was when he was sitting in their local Starbucks with someone who he assumed was San’s boyfriend. The two seemed intimate, but something was off. Every single time the blue haired boy would move a hand, San would flinch or scoot back. The way San never made eye contact with his blue haired companion; the stern looks on his companion’s face. It all just rubbed Seonghwa the wrong way.

The two of them sat and enjoyed their beverages. The blue haired boy had bought black coffee and San had bought some green tea, adding his own honey and cough drop to it. The poor thing must have been fighting a cold. He tried to keep his attention on his laptop, but he felt compelled to keep watching the two in case something happened.

Nothing ever did, and once the couple finished their drinks, they got up and left with no issue. Other than San not wanting to hold his companion’s hand. Other than the way his companion grabbed onto the back of his neck tightly.

Seonghwa wanted to get to know these mysterious people. More specifically, the timid boy with the silver streak through his hair.

* * *

The second time that Seonghwa saw San, it was a little over two weeks later. And he was alone. He was curled up in the corner of the booth, sipping on a cup of green tea just like last time. Only this time he had a broken arm in a sling. Seonghwa’s heart clenched at the sight. He wanted so bad to help the boy, but was it really his business at this point? They hadn’t acted out in public yet, so Seonghwa hadn’t gotten involved. What if the kid needed help though? It was obvious (to Seonghwa, anyway) that San need help.

Hesitantly, Seonghwa stood up from his place at a booth across the room and made his way over to San, bowing politely, “Hi. My name is Seonghwa and I…” He paused for a second when he saw the boy’s eyes widen and his body move back closer to the wall, “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay.” He sat down the seat in front of the boy, smiling sweetly and keeping his hands visible to keep the other at ease. “It’s just that… I saw you and your partner here a couple weeks ago and… I…” Pausing again, Seonghwa tried to figure out how to word his next statement carefully, “I… Saw the way he talked to you and how you reacted. I just wanted to let you know that I’m here every single day, and if you ever need anything you can let me know.” He smiled softly, taking notice of how the boy’s eyes seemed to dart between him and the window. Was he waiting for his partner? Was he wanting Seonghwa to leave? Was he nervous? Seonghwa had a million things running through his mind. The boy only nodded his head shyly and gripped onto his cup tighter, not making eye contact, which in turn made Seonghwa a little bit nervous. “What’s your name?”

The boy’s eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he frantically began typing on his phone. Seonghwa took that as a signal to leave. He was about to turn and get up when the phone was pointed at him. Seonghwa leaned forward to look at the words typed on it;

_I’m San. You really don’t want to be here when my boyfriend gets here. He’s very protective of me. Please leave me alone._

Seonghwa’s heart tightened in his chest when he read the last four words. Sighing, he looked back up at San and smiled, “I like that name. San.” He leaned forward and grinned softly, “When is your boyfriend supposed to be here, San?” When San held up five fingers, Seonghwa nodded. He was going to use that five minutes, all be damned. Situating himself better in his seat, he took a deep breath before speaking up again. “I came over here today to make sure that you were okay, San. And it looks like you aren’t, considering your arm is broken. You don’t have to tell me how you broke it, but I just… I don’t…” He put his head in his hands for a second and ran them down his face, “Look, what I’m trying to say is that I know it’s absolutely none of my business to be saying this, but I saw the way you walked out of here with your boyfriend the other day and I don’t have a good feeling about him. So, I just wanted you to know that you can come to me for help. I’m here every single day from eight to five because of my school schedule. Everyone knows me here, and I can even get them to help you if I need to. Okay?”

San stared at the other for a minute, his body tensing as he continued looking between the window and _Seonghwa._ Any second Hongjoong would be walking in and he would see him with the man in front of him. As quickly as he could, San tapped at his phone, soon pointing it to Seonghwa.

_Thanks, but I’m okay. Hongjoong is just really protective of me. I don’t need any help. Now **please** leave me alone. He won’t like it if he sees you here._

So, his partner’s name was Hongjoong. Seonghwa nodded, ignoring the fact that San wanted him to leave. He wouldn’t leave until he had to. He had to help this boy. Seonghwa was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice San’s eyes widening and barely registered the hand on his shoulder until he was so rudely whipped around. He frowned when he saw the blue haired boy, Hongjoong, standing before him with a deep frown on his face.

“What are you doing talking to _my_ boyfriend?” Hongjoong snapped, glaring over at San, “And what are _you_ doing talking to _him?”_ Hongjoong practically shoved Seonghwa out of the chair and took the spot, leaving Seonghwa staring in disbelief. He looked over at San, who was hanging his head in shame and submission. Seonghwa went back to where he had been normally sitting and got back to work. Well, tried to. He kept stealing glances at the couple, seeing San frantically typing and Hongjoong becoming more and more tense. Why didn’t San talk? Was he mute, or had Hongjoong forced him not to speak? The first option seemed a little more realistic. No partner was that awful where they forced their partner not to speak. Right?

Over the course of an hour, Seonghwa had witnessed Hongjoong digging his nails into San’s hand as he tried to “hold” it, Hongjoong aggressively pointing a finger at San as he scolded him in a hushed whisper, San flinching when Hongjoong outstretched his hands to take off his jacket, Hongjoong yanking San’s hair back to whisper something in his ear.

Seonghwa wanted to go over there and give Hongjoong a piece of his mind, but he knew he would do more harm than good. Plus, it’s not like he could call the police. He knew nothing about this couple. He only knew their names. He didn’t know where they lived, he didn’t know if this was some twisted kink that they did. He had nothing to go on.

Seonghwa hung around until the couple left, which consisted of Hongjoong yanking San up by his arm and tugging him out of the café. Burying his head in his hands, Seonghwa tugged at his hair.

What was he going to do?

* * *

The third time Seonghwa saw San, it was close to two months later. He had worried about the boy for quite a while, trying to accept the fact that there was nothing he could do. It was difficult. He talked to the Starbucks employees, asking if they had seen San in on the weekends when he wasn’t there, to which they said they had not. It was all so worrying. He just hoped that San was okay.

When he saw San walk in on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon, his heart practically leaped out of his chest. His eyes followed San all the way to the counter. He had changed, but Seonghwa couldn’t put his finger on it aside from the glasses he had gotten. However, when San turned his head for a second, the entire world seemed to stop for a second. Seonghwa saw that most of the right side of San’s head was almost completely shaved, and worst of all, stitches in that area. Seonghwa continued to stare in absolute shock. He did hear the employee asked what had happened to him, to which San paused before finally stating he was in a car accident.

Seonghwa had watched San collected his cup of green tea and go to his same corner seat in the booths. His heart ached for San. Hesitantly, he stood up and slowly made his way over to where San was sitting, smiling softly when San looked up at him through thick lenses. “May I sit for a minute? I promise it won’t take long.” He expected San to shake his head or something – to reject him. To his surprised, San nodded slowly but stayed curled up in his corner. “I heard you were in a car accident.” Seonghwa spoke, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I can only imagine what you went through.” Waiting for San to respond, Seonghwa leaned back in chair, frowning when San didn’t even bother typing on his phone; he just kept staring down into his green tea. “San…” Seonghwa cooed, his breath catching in his throat when the other looked up at him, “This is going to be a strange question, but… May I see your glasses?”

San frowned but still removed the glasses from his face and slid them over.

Seonghwa took the glasses from the table and smiled as a thank you. He held them up to peek through them, nodding before he looked at them from all angles. Prism. Thick ones. He looked back up and slid the glasses back over, “Before you put them back on, San, I want to ask you something.” He slowly raised his hand up and moved his hand to the left side of San’s right eye, “Can you see my hand here?” he questioned, to which San shook his head. “Okay. So, if I move it… here” Seonghwa said as he moved it a little bit to the right, “Can you see this?” He knew the second that San jumped a little and scooted back. Hemianopia. Nodding, Seonghwa set his hands on the table and crossed his legs, “You weren’t in a car accident, were you, San?” he asked softly. Taking in San’s squirminess and lack of eye contact, Seonghwa knew he was right. He couldn’t help but press further, “I know that it was Hongjoong, San. It’s not because I’m watching you or anything, but your body language is telling me all that I need to know. Hemianopia is caused by brain damage, causing the inability to see out of half of your field of vision. You are probably currently also suffering from double vision, which is also why you have these glasses. When I took them away from you, you continued to move your head as if you were trying to see me fully, which is also part of this condition. I’m not saying that this couldn’t be caused by a car accident, but I think you and I know better.” Before San could even start typing on his phone, Seonghwa turned and stood up and went back to his seat, continuing to type on his laptop as if nothing happened.

Seonghwa looked back up when he heard the door opening again. This time he saw San’s boyfriend coming in and making his way to the counter. He was curious to see how this played out.

When Hongjoong made his way back to San, he smirked and sat down in his usual seat, beginning to speak in a hushed tone to the other. San seemed to curl in on himself more and more as Hongjoong spoke, but something seemed… Different this time. San wasn’t hanging his head in shame. He kept eye contact with Hongjoong through his quiet scolding, waiting until he was finished before typing on his phone. Which was when everything really hit the fan.

Only a few seconds after Hongjoong had looked at what was written on that phone, he shot up out of his seat and threw his hands up, “What!?” he yelled, “You’re breaking up with me through fucking text!?” He had gotten everyone’s attention, but it didn’t seem to stop him from leaning over the table and grabbing San’s phone when he started typing again, “Fuck your phone! I’m tired of getting everything from you through words on your phone! Why can’t you just fucking speak to me once! Just once!” He grabbed onto San’s face, forcing the other to look at him, “Speak! Speak you idiot!” When San opened and closed his mouth to no avail, Hongjoong threw San’s phone against the wall, causing it to shatter, “I’ve been with you for four fucking years and you’ve never said one god damn word to me! Do you know how fucking sick I am of seeing you write down on your stupid little white board every single night before we go to bed!? Do you know how fucking sick I am watching you type on your phone and showing it to people that you interact with!? It’s embarrassing! _You’re_ embarrassing!” Hongjoong picked up his full cup of hot coffee and threw at San, causing the boy to squeak and shoot out of his seat, knocking the table over, which caused his own cup to shatter. The whole situation seemed to anger Hongjoong even more, “Clean it up!” he yelled, pointing to the mess of coffee and tea on the floor. When San didn’t move, Hongjoong quickly shoved him to the ground by his hair, “I said _clean it up_ , are you fucking stupid!” When San began to shakily pick up the pieces of cup that had shattered, Hongjoong swiftly kicked him in the stomach, causing San to fall back. This was when people sprang up out of their seats to help. Two men dragged Hongjoong away, one woman was phoning the police, and Seonghwa was already rushing over with two other people to help clean up the mess. As the other two people began to wipe everything up, Seonghwa helped San to his feet and set him down on a nearby chair, making sure that his stitches were okay, “San…” he whispered, taking the towel from the employee that was now tending to everything. He wrapped the towel around San’s front and smiled, patting him dry as softly as he could, “Are you okay? Is your head okay? Is your stomach okay?” He watched as San nodded his head and made a scribbling motion with his hand, letting Seonghwa know that he needed something to write with.

Seonghwa nodded and turned around, “Does anyone have a pad and paper? Or a phone that he can type on? He can’t speak.” When a lady rushed over with her phone, already opened to the Notes app, she handed it over to San and smiled. San began typing. The first part of it only reading;

_You were right._

Seonghwa felt sick. This was all happening so fast and he could still hear Hongjoong yelling in the background, but his focus was on San. And only San. He nodded his head slowly, “Do you want me to stay with you until the police come?” he questioned, waiting until San typed his reply.

_Yes._

He was almost overjoyed that San trusted him enough. Seonghwa sat down beside San, slowly starting to rub his back, which caused San to tense for a brief moment before he relaxed and leaned against Seonghwa.

When the police had finally arrived and took the witnesses’ statements, they took Hongjoong away as he was still struggling against the restraints. One officer stayed back to speak with Seonghwa and San, San still using the lady’s phone to explain everything to the officer, stating he wanted to press charges for this assault and three and a half years of prior abuse.

“Are you sure you want to do that? That’s not going to be an easy case to win.” Seonghwa said softly, pulling San a little closer as he typed out on his phone.

_Yes. I have put up with this long enough, but I never had the nerve to leave until I got out of the hospital. He beat me within an inch of my life, and I had to relearn how to do so many things because of it. Now I have permanent brain damage because of it. I was finally able to see what people were trying to tell me for so long._

Seonghwa looked up when he saw a drop of liquid fall onto the phone screen. San was crying now. He sighed and pat the boy on the back before pulling him in for a gentle hug, careful not to get anywhere near his stitches. “Do you want me to take you home now? I can drive you home or somewhere where you will be safe.”

_Can you stay with me?_

“Sure, San. I can stay.” Seonghwa put an arm around the other and slowly walked out of the café, letting San stop and give the nice woman her phone back before he continued walking. “We’re going to work everything out. I’ll help you. We’re going to get Hongjoong put away.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, opening up the Memos app so San could talk.

_I want nothing more._

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Please note that this is trash and I am in no way trying to romanticise domestic abuse. Not everything is portrayed accurately. This is all purely ficion.


End file.
